As I sit down to write this I am struck by the sheer number of lists of what happened in 2009. I think the most amazing thing about 2009 is what the year that was will foster in the year that is upon us.

Remember the start of 2009? All the economic forecasters were predicting doom and gloom. It seemed that the world was bracing itself for a year of despair. I said it then and I will say it again now; what defines us is not what happens to us, but how we deal with it. I feel that we dealt with 2009 perfectly. We didn’t spend our days thinking the sky was falling, rather we tightened our belts, we made good decisions in tough spots, we got a little more creative and the result will be that 2010 will be a better year than most suspect.

Here are a few of my predictions for 2010:

1)      Loads of $25 and over wines will be reduced in price to under $20 specifically look for Southern French, California, and B.C. wines to take the biggest drops. The quality is outstanding but inventories are high and the importer/winery needs to make room for new vintages.

2)      Argentine wines will continue to grow at amazing rates, while French, Australian (primarily Yellow Tail), & Californian wines will continue to see declines.

3)      South African, Spanish, Portuguese, Sparkling and Italian white wines will be the ‘surprise’ growth categories. Each of these categories are well represented with under-priced, WOW Factor wines that are seeing double and triple digit growth already. I can’t see any reason why these trends would stop as the vintages that are here and to arrive are ridiculously good.

4)      There will be more expressions of your favourite Single Malt Scotches (i.e. Laphroaig 10 yr, 15 yr, Highland Park 15 yr, Ardbeg 10yr) and the introduction of a number of expressions that have not been seen before (i.e. Glenturret). We may even see some price decreases here as demand in markets such as Russia & India has dropped by half.

5)      The most exciting spirits will be small batch premium Rum and Bourbon as more producers are seeking export markets. Part of the excitement will be the quality for price as many of the world’s best will be 2/3 the price of entry level Single Malts from Scotland.

6)      Team Canada will win Gold in Men’s & Women’s Hockey, 6 Gold in Speedskating, 3 gold in skiing events, and a plethora of Silver & Bronze medals making the Vancouver Olympics Canada’s most successful.

7)      The Canucks will win the Stanley Cup.

I threw the last one in there because I really like the idea and that would significantly improve our quality of life…. one sip at a time!